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An eclipse is a total or partial obscuration of one celestial body by another, the most dramatic being solar eclipses (kusūf) and lunar eclipses (khusūf). These were universally visible and attracted widespread attention as awe-inspiring celestial phenomena, often associated with important events and perceived as beneficent or maleficent omens. Beginning in antiquity, specialised observers noted variations in eclipse duration, changes in the apparent size of the Sun and Moon, the varying brightness of the planets, and …

Sharaf al-Dīn Abū ʿAlī Maḥmūd b. Muḥammad b. ʿUmar al-Jaghmīnī (al-Chaghmīnī) al-Khwārazmī (d. c.618/1221–2) composed multiple scientific works (in astronomy, arithmetic, astrology, and medicine) in Arabic in the late sixth/twelfth and early seventh/thirteenth centuries under the auspices of the Khwārazmshāhs in Central Asia. Two of his compositions in particular became popular textbooks: an introduction to Ptolemaic theoretical astronomy, al-Mulakhkhaṣ fī ʿilm al-hayʾa al-basīṭa; and a medical treatise, al-Qānūnča (“The ‘little Qānūn’”), an abridgement of Ibn Sīn…